


baby shoes

by serendipitiness



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: mostly just easy bonding for eventual siblings in law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 06:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16697170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitiness/pseuds/serendipitiness
Summary: Magnus grins as he holds up a pair of shoes as long as his thumb. “Wear them as earrings, maybe.”“Or buy them in advance for my nieces and nephews,” Izzy says easily. It’s out of her mouth before she even thinks, and she already feels her stomach dropping as she turns around in time to see Magnus blinking, staring at the mini loafers in his hands as his jaw clenches almost imperceptibly.(or in which Magnus and Isabelle go shopping and unintentionally stumble upon a touchy topic)





	baby shoes

It’s somewhere around a month before the holidays, when the wind is starting to bite and the branches are gray and brittle, that Izzy decides to text Magnus out of the blue, asking if he’d like to do some shopping with her.

_ The civilized type,  _ she says _. No Black Friday Cyber Tuesday bullshit. _

Magnus responds immediately.  _ Of course, Isabelle. Who do you take me for? _

She chuckles a little as she tucks her phone away, and goes to grab her jacket.

It surprises her sometimes, to realize that she can spend time with the High Warlock of Brooklyn like this -- to spend time with her brother’s  _ boyfriend _ like this. As a kid, when she’d pictured the kind of guy she hoped Alec would end up with, she’d always daydreamed up some cute, faceless shadowhunter boy who hopefully would love Alec the way he deserved, who would make him smile and laugh and blush, who would  _ maybe  _ get along with her too, not that that mattered as much.

And then came Magnus.

Magnus -- ancient, powerful, and gorgeous Magnus -- who fell in love with her brother.

He and Izzy get along well. He’s as much of a social creature as he is, revelling in the loudness of the spotlight, getting high off of the energy of a party. And as much as Izzy loves her brother, Magnus is the easier one to talk to in the traditional sense, conversation flowing easily between extroverts with minds matched in interest and in shared love for one particular person.

“I’m glad you get along with him,” Alec had said once, after a morning training session that featured Izzy knocking Alec onto his ass four times to his three. They’d been in the middle of chugging water when she’d asked if Magnus would be willing to give her cooking lessons. “I really hoped you would,” Alec had continued, “Since I don’t think I could have, you know…  _ been  _ with him if you and him weren’t. You know. Friendly.”

For ten seconds, Izzy had wanted to cry. Instead, she just smiled, punched his arm, and said: “I’m glad too.”

With that memory on her mind, Izzy makes her way out of her room and through the Institute’s front doors to be greeted by the sight of a portal, swirling pleasantly in waiting. She emerges on the other end in an alley off Spring Street, next to that bakery that went viral selling cronuts.

“Isabelle,” she hears, and she turns around to see Magnus. He’s dressed in a forest green coat, a soft maroon scarf wrapped tight around his neck, the grin on his face a welcoming greeting in and of itself as he walks toward her.

“Hey, Magnus.”

“Shall we?” He offers her his elbow.

“What’s our first stop?” she asks as they start to walk. “Shoes? Shirts? Milan?”

He laughs in amusement, and the sound rings out like a pretty fall of bells. Izzy notices the way passersby stutter in their steps to let their gazes linger on them -- on  _ Magnus _ . The winter sunlight catches on his handsome face, on the faint glimmer of makeup at the corner of his eyes, and the silver buttons of his coat. Even when it’s unintentional, he manages to draw attention to himself in the best of ways, and it’s in moments like this, when she sees Magnus in these unrehearsed moments, that she forgets that he’s not just some charming, elegant man she’s friends with.

“Let’s keep it in SoHo,” Magnus answers after his laughter dies down. “Time zones are hell to deal with and I’m not in the mood to fiddle with them.”

So they shop.

Hanging out with Magnus like this is  fun . He tells good stories, has a weird sense of humor, and somehow manages to prove at every turn that he’s kind of a genius based on the sheer volume and depth of knowledge he manages to have about everything under the sun. Sure, he loves the gossip she shares about how Aldertree managed to get himself fired from his latest gig at the Vilnius Institute, but he’s also deeply interested in what she has to say about a recent shax and elapid demon hybrid that was discovered twenty miles outside of Brisbane. And in between all of that, he shows off his impeccable eye for fashion and the way pieces can unexpectedly fit together.

Three hours later finds them wandering aimlessly, a respectable number of shopping bags already magicked back to Magnus’ loft for safekeeping. After checking out a shop that only sells ponchos, they randomly make their way into a boutique that has nothing but overpriced baby shoes.

“I don’t get the business model,” Izzy comments dryly as she looks around, “but I’m pretty sure that back section has baby imitation Louboutins and I want them.”

Magnus grins as he holds up a pair of shoes as long as his thumb. “Wear them as earrings, maybe.”

“Or buy them in advance for my nieces and nephews,” Izzy says easily. It’s out of her mouth before she even thinks, and she already feels her stomach dropping as she turns around in time to see Magnus blinking, staring at the mini loafers in his hands as his jaw clenches almost imperceptibly.

“Magnus,” Izzy says softly, then gently, carefully lays a hand on his arm. “Hey. I’m sorry if that’s a sore topic.”

Magnus shakes his head, still not looking up. His gaze is hazy and distant, brown irises seeming dark and muted in color. His mind is in another galaxy. “It’s not really,” he says.

Maybe Magnus is telling the truth. Or maybe he’s hiding what he’s really feeling, the way Alec has told her he does. Because Izzy can’t help but think that Magnus would be the best dad -- that Magnus and  _ Alec _ would be the best dads, together. Magnus is as much of a caretaker and a protector as her brother, and in her head, he’s just someone who would take well to parenthood, even if he hasn’t technically had children of his own.

“Even so, I’m not the right one to bring it up.” Izzy steps closer and squeezes his arm.

Magnus sighs. He bends to set down the pair of shoes he’d been holding, then straightens again to meet her eyes,. “Isabelle, it’s not that I do or don’t want children. And it’s not like I hate talking about it, with or without my partner in the room. I -- I love children. Which I’m sure not many would think is true of me based on my reputation,” he laughs without humor. “It’s just something that’s hard for me to fathom. It’s never been in the cards for me.”

“You know he never thought it was in the cards for  _ him _ , either? Not until you came along.”

Magnus doesn’t say anything in response. Izzy catches a glimpse of the faintest smile quirking at the corner of his lips though.

“Anyway,” she says, and runs a finger along the little pair of light-up sneakers on the table in front of her. “Things work out. Alec was an inch away from marrying Lydia, Jace fell in love with a girl who was nearly his sister, all of us have nearly died at least once, and look where we are now.”

Magnus raises an eyebrow. “Severely traumatized?”

Izzy laughs. “Yes. Very,  _ very  _ much so. But we’re also okay. Mostly happy. At least I know I am.”

Magnus nods, and wraps an arm around Izzy’s shoulder. He’s a warm, reassuring presence next to her, solid and ceaseless in his existence, and there’s something unspeakably comforting about that.

She barely hears it when he murmurs, “I’m happy too.”

They make their way through the rest of the shop, lingering over tiny baby socks and the cutest pair of black combat boots, before heading back outside into the cold. It’s late afternoon, but the sun is starting to set already, a somber blue darkness starting to fall that’s cut cheerfully by the glimmer of New York’s city lights.

“Any other plans for the day?” Magnus asks her as they stand there for a moment, watching strangers rush past them, breath puffing out in chilled smoky bursts.

Izzy shakes her head. “We always hit a lull around this time of year. Even if we don’t formally celebrate the holidays, everybody winds up hanging out with family at home, wherever that is. I mean, unless you’re Alec, who doesn’t know how  _ not _ to keep busy. To his credit, he’s a little better about it now that he’s got you around.”

Magnus beams. “Don’t I know it.” He hums contemplatively, then asks, “In that case, what do you say to getting some hot chocolate? We can bring it back to my place after and spike it with rum.”

“I like the way you think,” Izzy says with a smile, and follows Magnus into the crowd as they make their way down the sidewalk.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr at[ @laughingmagnus](https://laughingmagnus.tumblr.com/). come say hi/submit a prompt/whatever :)


End file.
